prayer or recovery from illness. These have their origins in 15th century Italy, and spread over Europe quickly and eventually were painted or commissioned by various levels of society. Ex voto paintings started as two types: one of a static image of a saint or other personage and one with a depiction of the miracle. The static images came first and vary little. By the 16th century, the narrative version had been established. The European ex voto tradition was introduced shortly after the Conquest with the earliest known to exist dating from the 1590s. In fact, there is a record of the conquistador Hernán Cortés making an ex-voto to give thanks for being able to walk away from a scorpion bite without becoming ill. As in Europe, the tradition began with wealthy families having depictions of saints painted with the narrative version coming shortly thereafter. In a number of respects, the Mexican Catholic ex voto tradition is a blending of the European and Mesoamerican traditions, especially in the early colonial period. Many ex votos are dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe, who is often considered to be a transfiguration of the mother goddess Tonantzin. On some depictions of saints from this time can be seen fangs, which are associated with Quetzalcoatl . Since the establishment of the Mexican Catholic ex voto, the tradition has remained intact to the present day with relatively little change. The wealthy had their votive paintings done on canvas and these were donated to churches. Most votive paintings would be of this type until the 18th century. At this time, sheets of tin became relatively inexpensive, allowing for the masses to donate pieces made by themselves or by a local artist. The most prolific period of votive painting production by the lower classes occurred from the late 18th to early19th centuries. In addition to the availability of tin sheets, another reason for the popularity of votive paintings was the political instability of Mexico from late 18th century through much of the 19th. This promoted the devotion to local images and folk saints, along with pilgrimages to their sites. Both types of votive paintings, static images and narrative ones were widely produced in the 19th century. Static images on tin were produced for home shrines and narrative images were made to donate or to leave at pilgrimage sites. Static images are fairly uniform, but the narrative ones